random map generation

[oawiefga]

I've been playing BTS for a few months on the Giant Earth Map mod. I want to increase the challenge a bit by playing on a huge random map. The maps I've generated so far all appear repetitive. When I zoom out to a global view there is an obvious pattern in the placement of lakes, hills, mountains, resources, etc. This is not what I am looking for.

What are the favorite map generation scripts and what settings do I need to use to get the desired results? I want to play on map with large continents, some islands, and about 50-70% water.

 

[Yxklyx]

Tectonics to me seems to be the most random. From what I've seen, the water percentage varies quite a bit when selecting 60% or 70%. The other maps seem to prioritize creating balanced starts - and hence somewhat make for bland maps.

 

[Jamuka]

Fractal for randomness. Big and small/medium and small for the settings you described.

 

[PhroX]

My favourite is perfectworld. Creates far and away the most realistic maps I've seen.

 

[Stoney the I]

tectonics or perfectworld2 would be the way to go, I think.

 

[Neoclast]

I like the Tectonics as I think it gives good realistic feel to them.

 

[Yxklyx]

I actually don't like perfectworld because you have so many options to set. When I generate a map I usually select Random as often as possible - that's not possible with perfectworld from what I could tell.

 

[JonathanStrange]

Tectonics but I have to admit like the OP; I'm not often getting the map I like either; even randomness has a sameness to it all. Nature of the beast if you play too much, I suppose.

 

[Bob the Barbari]

Archipelago, sneaky continents, low sea level gives amazing results.

 

[Yxklyx]

Archipelago, sneaky continents, low sea level gives amazing results.

Yeah, these look like great shapes but I like how Tectonics places the terrain.

 

[King Kalmah]

Hmm is Tectonics a mod or something?

 

[Yxklyx]

Hmm is Tectonics a mod or something?

Comes with BTS - you might be able to get it elsewhere. It's just another map option, like Pangaea, Archipelago, etc...

 

[King Kalmah]

It comes with a patch doesn't it?

Cause I have BTS unpatched

 

[MacPhearson]

What Bob said: Islands with low sea levels. You should use the map editor to see what the world looks like. I find this easier when investigating map scripts; you can regenerate maps from there. If you toggle on the resource tabs before opening this feature, its easy to see what their distribution looks like on a new map.

You may find that you can move up a difficulty on this setting as well. My friends and I find that the AI plays the best on a round island or when it can have cities spread equidistant from its captial (wait til Mansa has that sole round island all to himself and you will know what I am talking about). And although the AI's explore fairly aggresively, this type of map seems to delay their AI-AI tech trading until later in the game. This tends to make the game a bit easier in the 1st age (when its usually the hardest) and then takes it up a notch in the 2nd or 3rd (when I would normally start to dominate the game). BTW, I think the Dutch are too easy mode to play on this setting.